In Depression-era America, painter Val Welch travels westward to the rural town of Dawes, Wyoming, where he's landed a New Deal assignment to create a mural for their Post Office. He lodges at the ranch of former Great War sniper John Long and his wife Eve, who used to sing in a western swing band. When Eve flees home with a valuable painting, and Long recruits Val to track her down, and in this novel by the author of Cold Mountain, he turns up secrets that could spark changes for all of them.